Two Independence Days

 

by Pa Rock

Elder Patriot

For nearly two-and-a-half centuries our nation recognized July 4th as our "Independence Day," the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by fifty-six of our founding fathers, an historic document that severed our fledgling nation from the British Empire.  In addition to recognizing the day as a marker of this country's independence form Great Britain, the day also came to reflect the words of the Declaration itself and marked the "independence" of the American people as free in mind, body, and character - and able to make their own way in the world.

But, of course, in July of 1776 not every resident of the new "United States" was a free person.  Women were subjugated to the wills of their fathers or husbands, the natives of the land whose ancestors had been here centuries before the arrival of the Europeans were being relentlessly pushed from their lands and routinely exterminated.  And black slaves, whose families originated in Africa and who had no rights at all, numbered in the hundreds of thousands.  (The first national census of 1790 recorded just under 700,000 slaves in the United States.)

Some of that has changed,

Women now have the right to vote and hold office, but many national debates still rage regarding opportunities for women in society and their rights and abilities to control their own bodies.  Native Americans have also attained the right to vote and hold office - one has even served as Vice President of the United States - but many still live in abject poverty and lead marginalized lives while surviving on the scraps of white society.

The black slaves were freed by an executive order (the Emancipation Proclamation) issued by President Lincoln in 1863 as a response to the southern insurrection and Civil War.  Two years later Congress ratified Lincoln's bold act when it passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which abolished slavery in our nation once and for all.  The states quickly ratified that Amendment.  Black Americans were finally "free" with their own sense of independence.

Supposedly the last slaves in the United States to learn of their independence were in Galveston Bay, Texas, where US troops brought the news to them on June 19th, 1865.  That date quickly became known as "Juneteenth," or "Freedom Day" for Black Americans.  On June 19th, 2021, President Biden officially recognized that special day by signing the "Juneteenth National Independence Day Act." 

Now we have two Independence Days - and that is a very good thing.  I am proud and pleased to celebrate both.

But we also have many more political and social miles to travel before all Americans will be able to feel the same level of independence and freedom from tyranny that our fifty-six white founding fathers did on July 4th, 1776.  Independence and freedom for all is a dream worth having and a goal worth pursuing.

Have a wonderful Independence Day - and don't forget to check on your homebound neighbors, friends, and relatives.